UC-NRLF 


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686 

V3 

1881 

MAIN 


AN     ADDRESS 


DKTYIVTCRK.D    BEFORE  TUK 


NEBRASKA 


State  Board  of  Agriculture, 


AT  THE  FAIR  GROUNDS, 


OMAHA,  WEDNESDAY,  SEPT.  14,  iBSi, 


Hon.  C.  H.  VAN  WYCK,  U.  S.  Senator. 


PUm.lKITKD  F.Y   AtfTMJflsRiTY   ^)F 
THE  NEBRASKA  STATE  I4OAKI)  OF  ACHMCULTrilE. 


AN     ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


NEBRASKA 


State  Board  of  Agriculture, 


AT  THE  FAIR  GEOUNDS, 


OMAHA,  WEDNESDAY,  SEPT.  14, 1881, 


BY 


Hon.  CWVAN  WYCK,  U.  S.  Senator 


PUBLISHED   BY  AUTHORITY  OF 

THE  NEBRASKA  STATE  BOARD  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

1881. 


AN     ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


NEBRASKA 


State  Board  of  Agriculture, 


AT  THE  FAIR  GROUNDS, 


OMAHA,  WEDNESDAY,  SEPT.  14,  1881, 


BY 


Hon.  c         VAN  WYCK,  U.  S.  Senator 


PUBLISHED   BY  AUTHORITY  OF 

THE  NEBRASKA  STATE  BOARD  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

1881. 


LOAN   STACK 

GIFT 


ADDRESS. 


This  should  be  not  so  much  the  farmer's  holiday,  but  rather 
the  occasion  for  conference  as  to  the  manner  of  improving  all 
the  industries  of  the  land,  because  only  through  the  development 
of  all  and  the  prosperity  of  each  is  his  own  prosperity  secured. 
Not  only  to  reason  together  about  the  system  of  husbandry, 
for  he  must  learn  that  the  best  is  the  only  kind  which  will  be 
found  profitable  ;  that  weeds  and  corn  cannot  grow  on  the 
same  soil  during  the  same  season  ;  that  one  hundred  acres  pro 
ducing  fifty  bushels  per  acre  is  far  better  than  two  hundred 
acres  producing  thirty  bushels  per  acre.  That  wheat,  in  a  large 
portion  of  the  state,  should  not  be  grown  beyond  home  supply  ; 
the  uncertainty  of  the  crop  and  the  large  outlay  for  necessary 
machinery  leaving  but  little  to  the  producer.  That  the  best 
grade  of  stock  011  the  farm  and  in  the  market  is  that  which  is 
best  cared  for.  The  severe  winter  and  the  equally  severe  summer 
is  teaching  rather  severely  the  lesson  that  cattle  cannot  subsist 
without  feed  and  that  less  feed  will  be  necessary  where  shel 
tered  from  the  snows  and  winds  of  winter.  And  while  discuss 
ing  the  treatment,  feeding,  watering  and  salting  the  herds  and 
flocks,  the  growing  wealth  of  this  growing  state,  it  will  not  be 
amiss  to  know  the  mode  of  watering  other  stocks  and  salting 
mines  with  minerals  where  none  exist. 

i. 

CAPITAL    AND   LABOR. 

Every  year  is  bearing  its  testimony  to  the  truths  of  the  thous 
ands  gone  before  :  that  there  is  no  true  excellence  without 
labor,  either  in  the  fi>ld,  the  arts  and  sciences,  the  forum,  the 
bench,  or  the  pulpit.  That  no  addition  is  made  to  the  actual 
wealth  of  (he  world  except  by  the  labor  of  hands.  No  pyra- 

177 


raids  in  the  deserts,  no  cities  on  the  plains  and  by  the  sea,  no 
mountains  tunneled,  no  valleys  filled,  no  acqueducts,  no  canals, 
no  railroads,  except  by  the  toil  of  muscle  and  nerve. 

Genius  and  brain  have  often  come  to  relieve  much  of  the 
drudgery  ;  the  screw,  the  lever,  the  wedge,  were  the  first  and 
simplest.  Then  steam,  electricity,  the  printing  press,  the  sew 
ing  machine,  and  the  thousand  of  contrivances  whereby  labor  is 
lessened  and  often  made  pleasant.  Yet,  the  inventions  of  the 
past  and  present  are  of  no  avail  without  the  toil  and  weariness 
of  laboring  hands  around  and  behind  them. 

Beyond  all  these  matters  of  husbandry,  stock-raising,  ma 
chinery  and  toil,  are  other  questions  equally  important  and 
affecting  the  material  interests  of  the  farmer.  I  know  many 
are  horrified  at  the  thought  of  passing  beyond  what  they 
would  like  to  make  the  dead  line  between  labor  in  all  its  ramifi 
cations  and  the  privileges  of  special  interests  acquired  by  char 
ter  or  combination  ;  but  many  of  the  latter  have  become  so 
grasping  and  aggressive  that  self-protection  forces  the  conside 
ration  with  the  view  of  securing  justice  to  the  comparative  few, 
and  equal  justice  to  the  toiling  multitude. 

If  we  were  only  allowed  to  ascertain  what  county  and  whose 
farm  made  the  greatest  yield,  whose  creamery  or  dairy  produced 
the  best  butter  and  cheese,  which  grade  of  cattle  or  swine  made 
most  meat  from  an  equal  quantity  of  grain,  and  by  way  of 
moral  diversion,  which  horse,  for  no  sort  of  use  to  the  horse  or 
its  owner,  could  be  forced  into  the  greatest  speed,  or  be  amused 
with  a  balloon  of  huge  proportions  demonstrating  the  folly  and 
possibly  the  injury  and  death  of  only  one  man,  while  the  bal 
loons  of  conservative  inflationists,  with  pockets  full  of  tracts, 
on  stable  currency,  yet  hands  pumping  and  mouths  full  of 
material  to  fill  the  balloons  which  impair  the  prosperity  of  the 
nation.  If  this  were  the  extent  of  your  mission  then  the  chap 
ter  might  be  brief,  but  the  productions  of  America  are  so  ex 
tensive  in  the  number  of  persons  engaged  therein  the  vast 
business  interests  they  support,  the  nations  of  the  old  world 
they  are  helping  to  feed,  that  it  becomes  important  we  should 
widen  the  vision.  Consider,  at  least,  all  matters  connected  with 
and  depending  upon  agriculture. 


Vast  as  are  the  railroad  interests  representing  millions  mul 
tiplied  by  millions,  aggregating  more  than  one-eighth  of  the 
wealth  of  the  nation,  yet  their  real  prosperity  is  dependent 
upon  the  products  of  the  soil.  The  prospect  of  bountiful  crops 
gives  life  to  their  business,  elevates  stock.  The  bull  of  Wall 
street,  borrowing  the  name  of  the  leader  of  the  herd,  tosses  his 
head  and  booms,  while  the  grasshopper  and  chinch  bug  and 
drouth  are  watched  with  solicitude,  and  their  coming  depresses, 
only  enlivening  the  sluggish,  torpid  bear,  also  of  Wall  street, 
who  is  hoping  for  crash  and  reverse  that  he  may  grow  fat. 

So,  too,  with  the  manufacturers  and  merchants  :  bountiful 
harvests  mean  an  increased  demand  and  activity  in  all  trade. 

This  nation  has  tided  over  its  greatest  financial  difficulty  and 
achieved  its  greatest  financial  victory,  and  resumption  made 
possible  only  because  our  surplus  productions,  needed  abroad, 
called  coin  and  bullion  from  nearly  all  the  nations  of  Europe. 
From  this  stand  point  how  plain  that  there  is  necessarily  no 
conflict  and  should  be  no  antagonisms  between  any  branch  of 
labor  and  between  capital  and  labor.  Although  this  is  too  often 
only  sentiment  and  after  due  exhortation,  the  fact  is  apparent 
that  from  the  natural  belligerency  of  mankind  the  time  for  the 
lying  down  of  the  lion  and  the  lamb,  or  the  bulls  and  the  bears 
exist  more  in  hope  than  realization. 

From  the  early  times  this  has  been  a  vast  huckstering,  traffic- 
ing  world,  with  individuals  and  nations  each  seeking  advance 
ment  at  the  expense  of  the  other.  In  trade  this  has  been  called 
competition  ;  in  governmental  affairs,  ambition. 

Jacob  did  it  when  he  watered  stock,  and  to  deceive  Labaii, 
his  father-in-law,  placed  who'bp-poles  in  the  gutters  of  the 
watering  trough.  So  did  Pharoah  and  Joseph  when  they  sold 
corn  at  famine  prices  in  Egypt.  From  the  days  of  Cain  an 
apology  for  defrauding  or  over-reaching  is  ever  found  in  the 
heartless  and  criminal  inquiry,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?" 
Since  nations  have  been  breaking  down  the  Chinese  wall, 
which  themselves  had  made  in  the  guise  of  high  tariff,  and  ex 
changing  more  liberally  the  productions  of  each,  it  becomes 
more  necessary  to  study  the  changed  conditions  of  trade  and 
commerce.  New  channels  and  new  industries  necessitate  new 
modes  of  thought.  As  well  retain  the  tinder  box,  the  flint  lock, 


6 

the  battering  ram  as  the  dogmas  of  political  economists  of  the 
past  century. 

II. 

THE   FINANCES. 

The  world  has  advanced  as  much  in  currency  and  finance  as  in 
production  and  transportation. 

As  well  cross  the  ocean  by  sail  and  wind  as  to  insist  that  gold 
can  be  the  only  circulating  medium. 

A  century  ago  in  transportation  and  currency  no  other  factors 
were  known,  but  the  world's  progress  has  given  a  more  active 
power  to  propel  and  a  more  convenient  medium  of  exchange. 

Natural  philosphy  may  not  change,  new  principles  may  be 
involved,  but  gravitation,  light,  heat,  the  movement  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  remain  the  same  as  in  the  age  of  Galileo,  but 
political  economy  based  upon  and  representing  the  most  ap 
proved  theories  of  the  times  when  written,  must  change  as  na 
tions  develop  and  advance,  and  keep  abreast  of  progress  in  man 
ufactures,  trade  and  commerce.  The  great  economic  writers  of 
other  days  should  be  gratefully  remembered,  but  if  living  to 
day  many  of  them  would  modify  their  own  theories. 

We  should  benefit  by  the  changes  of  our  national  experi 
ence. 

A  few  years  ago,  in  the  flush  of  prosperity,  when  legal  ten 
ders  were  basis  of  currency,  when  its  volume  rather  than 
character  made  all  industries  active  and  profitable,  many  proph 
esied  disaster,  which  was  a  safe  thing  to  do,  and  made  paper 
money  the  cause,  and  the  only  remedy  a  coin  basis. 

In  due  time  we  reached  that  point ;  soon  came  another  wild 
mania  for  speculation.  The  same  conservative  philosophers 
who  had  denounced  paper  money  next  said  we  had  too  much 
coin,  when  it  was  flowing  back  upon  us  like  the  tide  in  ex 
change  for  the  cattle  and  grain  of  the  west. 

Then  the  same  financial  philosophers,  in  order  to  inaugurate 
another  panic  from  which  they  might  increase  their  gains,  in 
sist  that  money  is  too  abundant,  and  silver  must  be  eliminated 
from  the  currency.  This  was  the  same  struggle  of  the  few 
against  the  many. 


Then  a  portion  of  the  press,  controlled  in  trade  centers  by  the 
money  interest,  denounced  the  masses  as  silver  lunatics  and 
denounced  the  silver  craze.  Congress  stood  firm  and  sustained 
the  people  over  the  veto  of  a  too  willing  president. 

We  were  assured  in  the  raid  against  legal  tenders  that  a  hard 
money  basis  would  repress  the  spirit  of  gambling  and  specula 
tion,  yet  this  nation  never  witnessed  such  dangerous  criminal 
and  law  violating  speculation  as  since  resumption. 

These  same  philosophers  who  assume  all  knowledge  and  wis 
dom  in  financial  concerns  in  their  bankers  convention,  a  few 
weeks  ago,  admitted  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  business  of 
the  country,  probably  nineteen-twentieths,  was  based  upon 
paper  and  upon  credit.  When  paper  was  based  upon  the  credit 
and  faith  of  a  nation  of  50,000,000  people,  these  men  were 
instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  prophesying  evil.  Nowr 
when  it  is  based  upon  the  credit  of  speculators  who,  in  a  few 
years,  or  months,  may  be  bankrupt,  the  air  is  not  so  full  of 
warnings  from  that  source  and  the  sentinels  on  the  watch  tow 
ers  are  not  prophets  of  disasters. 

Very  many  of  these  financial  philosophers,  who  often  seek  to 
put  off  their  notions  as  embodiments  of  patriotism,  are  loaning 
millions  upon  collaterals  of  stocks  and  bonds,  which  they 
know  at  the  first  approach  of  danger  will  be  worthless  many  of 
them  fraudulently  issued  and  in  violation  of  law,  known  to  be 
swindling,  designing  schemes  to  entrap  victims,  which  will 
prove  a  fraud  upon  the  banks  and  a  still  greater  fraud  upon  the 
masses. 

The  bankers  are  helping  this  dangerous  inflation — they  are 
furnishing  the  light  air  to  blow  these  bubbles.  W  ithout  their 
aid  the  victims  could  not  obtain  money  for  margins,  and  with 
out  their  assistance  the  schemers  who  build  new  roads  or  reha 
bilitate  bankrupt  ones  with  the  open,  notorious  intention  to 
defraud  by  placing  two  and  often  four  dollars  in  stocks  and 
bonds  on  the  market  for  every  dollar  really  expended,  could  not 
float  their  worthless  paper. 

Much  indignation  is  manifested  at  the  same  system  in  adulte 
rating  other  articles — by  making  greasy  oleomargarine  and 
calling  it  butter  ;  by  mixing  glucose  and  white  earth  in  sugar; 
a  moderate  sprinkling  of  corn  juice  in  beer  or  water,  sometimes 


strychnine,  in  whiskey  ;  but  the  adulteration  of  stocks  and  bonds, 
fourfold  the  value  of  the  property,  excites  no  alarm  in  the 
minds  of  conservatives  bankers,  or  at  least  not  to  the  extent  of 
withholding  loans,  thereby  preventing  this  mad  career  of 
villainy. 

Thus  we  see  how  important  that  each  industry  should  under 
stand  and  watch  the  other.  Why  not?  Who  are  more  inter 
ested  in  a  sound  currency  and  a  stable  credit  than  the  toilers  on 
the  land — toilers  everywhere — toilers  in  the  workshops,  toilers 
on  the  prairies?  When  the  crash  comes  labor  is  most  injured 
and  powerless  to  protect  itself. 

The  greatness  of  its  numbers  is  a  source  of  weakness.  The 
banking  interests  can  easily  assemble  in  national  convention 
and  act  in  concert  for  a  common  purpose.  The  great  railroads 
can  be  represented  in  the  smallest  parlor  at  Saratoga,  so  few  in 
numbers  are  the  controling  spirits.  When  bank  or  railroad 
presidents  meet  in  convention  no  outside  interest  attempts  to 
checkmate  their  movements.  No  Jeremy  Diddlers  bold  enough 
to  seek  to  wool  the  eyes  of  these  schemers.  Who  would  hope 
that  a  national  convention  of  producers  would  accomplish  any 
practical  benefit  when  a  county  and  state  organization  is  sought 
to  be  controlled  in  other  interests  and  real  antagonism  to  their 
own. 

in. 

THE   TRANSPORTATION   PROBLEM. 

If  finance  is  a  legitimate  question  to  be  considered,  so  is  the 
more  important  one  of  transportation.  All  human  power, 
whether  of  wealth  or  of  state,  will  be  exercised  at  times  arbitrari 
ly.  All  people  recognizing  this  fact  have  restrained  by  law  the 
avarice,  the  greed  and  cruelty  of  money.  The  usurer  has  always 
been  denounced.  The  class  of  Shylocks  with  keen  scent  for 
blood  money,  always  descant  about  the  value  of  property,  that 
money  like  other  property  should  regulate  their  rate  of  interest 
by  supply  and  demand.  In  assumed  superiority  they  deny  the 
common  mind  the  right  to  discuss  or  even  consider  so  obtruse 
a  subject  as  finance.  They  claim  that  should  be  left  to  the  men 
who  make  it  a  life  study. 


9 

So  unrelenting  and  overbearing  is  the  cent,  per  cent,  that  the 
usury  laws  are  frequently  violated.  Men  will  take  the  chances 
of  the  penalty,  just  as  the  pirate  on  the  ocean  and  the  smuggler 
in  port. 

Talk  about  antagonism  of  capital  and  labor ;  talk  about 
strikes  and  communism.  Does  the  pulpit  and  press  ring  out  its 
fearful  anathemas  upon  capital  setting  laws  at  defiance  in  its 
unholy  greed  to  take  the  pound  of  flesh,  and  if  not  held  by  the 
throat  would  willingly  take  the  drop  of  blood  ?  The  danger  is 
not  that  the  farmers  and  laborers  will  know  too  much  in  prob 
lems  of  government.  If  the  masses  are  ignorant  on  these 
questions,  that  ignorance  is  a  crime,  and  there  is  the  danger. 

Here  is  your  mistake.  You  give  too  little  attention  to  finance, 
to  transportation  and  politics.  Give  these  matters  thought. 
Save  a  little  time  from  the  plow  and  field  to  study.  Keepyour 
children  in  school.  Don't  send  them  with  the  herd  as  soon  as 
they  can  straddle  the  pony,  or  put  them  to  the  plow  as  soon  as 
they  can  reach  the  handles.  If  you  do,  other  interests  will  get 
the  better  of  you.  The  struggle  of  this  age  is  not  with  muscle, 
even  on  the  field  requiring  muscle.  You  must  have  the  brains 
as  well  as  the  brawn. 

You  are  educating  the  soil  into  more  generous  harvests;  you 
have  improved  the  grade  of  cattle  ;  even  rounded  out  the  form 
of  the  hog  until  it  is  exciting  the  diplomatists  of  all  civilized 
countries.  Now  do  as  much  for  yourself  and  children.  Edu 
cation  will  give  you  better  crops,  better  herds,  better  markets, 
and  in  the  struggle  with  men  who  live  alone  by  the  brain,  you 
can  meet,  if  not  on  an  equal  field,  at  least  not  to  a  disadvantage. 

We  know  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  education  are  some 
what  appalling.  The  father  must  toil  from  early  morn  to  night 
fall  to  procure  bread  for  the  little  ones,  and  then  the  little  ones 
must  toil  to  help  get  money  to  pay  interest  to  save  the  home 
stead,  to  appease  the  tax-gatherer. 

Will  you  then  tell  me  it  is  wrong  for  the  state  to  interpose 
and  protect  the  toiling  helpless  laborer?  That  it  shall  insist  that 
money,  that  corporate  wealth,  that  banks,  that  railroads,  that 
telegraph  lines  shall  pay  their  just  and  full  share  of  the 
taxes.  Will  you  tell  me  that  the  state  should  not  compel  the 
usurer  to  be  satisfied  with  the  legal  rate  of  interest?  that  rail- 


10 

roads  and  telegraph  companies  should  not  double  and  quadruple 
the  stocks  and  bonds  of  its  roads  and  then  insist  upon  dividends 
for  its  watered  stock  and  bonds. 

Of  late  some  railroad  magnates,  while  denying  or  attempting 
to  ignore  this  species  of  legislation,  are  clamoring  for  national 
interference  to  protect  one  class  of  operators  from  the  shark- 
like  propensity  of  another.  It  seems  there  is  much  of  human 
kind  in  stock  operators  ;  the  habit  of  devouring  grows  after 
crunching  all  victims  within  reach,  they  sometimes  turn  and 
rend  each  other.  Some  of  the  lamb-like  creatures  desire  Con 
gress  to  interfere  and  prevent  their  destruction  by  the  ravenous 
beasts  that  get  in  the  fold,  claiming  that  no  obligations  of  hon 
esty  or  honor  can  hold  some  men  to  a  pool  they  have  voluntarily 
joined,  and  they  demand  that  the  occasional  outbreak  of  com 
petition  merely  for  gambling  purposes  shall  be  throttled  by 
Congfess.  This  position  is  at  least  a  concession  of  the  power 
of  the  people  to  regulate  and  control.  Thus  the  world  moves. 
We  rejoice  in  the  indication  of  healthy  action  from  the  moral 
standpoint. 

The  most  wonderful  stock  operator  of  the  age,  Jay  Gould, 
obtained  not  long  since  a  sprinkle  of  religion.  It  was  a  strange 
weird  place  to  obtain  that  commodity — down  in  Missouri,  at 
Kansas  City.  Kansas  accounts  for  it  that  he  was  so  near  the 
line  of  that  state,  and  the  holy  influences  lapped  Missouri.  He 
seemed  then  to  be  renouncing  the  allurements  of  Wall  street 
when  he  said  he  had  already  secured  of  wealth — money— enough 
to  satisfy  all  his  reasonable  wants  ;  that  his  family  was  small 
and  he  had  sufficient  for  their  maintenance;  that  henceforth  he 
would  own,  stock,  and  bond,  railroads  purely  for  the  good  of 
the  countn  *nd  love  of  the  people.  But  alas  the  return  to 
Wall  street  was  too  demoralizing.  He  fell  from  grace  and  went 
on  watering  stocks  more  vigorously  than  before. 

Then  that  other  wonderful  operator,  Vanderbilt,  when  he 
was  away  from  the  gambling  dens  of  New  York  City,  he,  too, 
had  a  twinge  of  conscience  and  seemed  reaching  for  the  anxious 
seat.  Not  so  strange  in  his  case,  as  he  could  more  fully  realize 
the  fleetness  of  life  when  he  saw  Maud  S.  fleetly  dashing  around 
the  track  ;  then  away  from  the  bulls  and  bears  he  could  enjoy  the 
more  soothing  society  of  horsemen.  Possibly  the  tranquil  and 


11 

sacred  influences  of  Chicago  had  a  happy  effect  in  elevating  the 
thoughts  and  heart  sufficiently  long  and  high  to  bewail  the 
wickedness  of  the  age  when  he  proclaimed  that  the  recklessness 
and  villainy  of  the  day  in  issuing  stocks  and  bonds  was  unpar 
alleled  ;  that  no  road  was  ever  built  or  reorganized  that  did  not 
fraudulently  issue  four  times  the  cost  of  its  construction. 

Yanderbilt  has  returned  to  the  east,  but  there  is  no  record 
whether  he  has  gone  back  to  the  abominations  he  denounced. 

But  the  good  work  goes  on.  The  Herald  of  Omaha,  from 
which  I  am  always  proud  to  quote.  (Has  not  our  good  friend 
Dr.  Miller  always  insisted  that  it  was  the  only  religious  paper 
in  the  west)  has  proclaimed  the  present  railroad  building  mak 
ing  the  republic  one  vast  credit  inobilier,  by  a  construction 
company.  An  inside  ring  of  the  incorporates  contract  with 
themselves  to  defraud  the  future  owners  of  the  road,  as  well  as 
the  public.  That  a  new  telegraph  line  was  organized  and  a 
contract  made  with  themselves  for  construction  at  $300  per 
mile,  when  the  actual  cost  could  not  exceed  $100. 

The  Herald  asks  what  is  "  the  matter,"  and  answers  u  that  the 
line  is  built  by  subscription  to  capital  stock,  and  the  greater  the 
cost  the  wider  the  margin  for  stock  operations." 

The  Herald  truthfully  adds,  "  It  will  surprise  a  great  many 
people  to  learn  that  some  of  the  largest  railway  projects  in  the 
country  have  been  undertaken  and  carried  to  completion  with 
out  the  expenditure  of  a  dollar  of  their  own  money  by  the 
original  projectors  and  largest  owners.  This  is  done  by  stocking 
and  bonding  the  concern,  to  double  the  cost  of  construction, 
possibly  three  times  the  cost." 

Speaking  of  Gould,  the  Herald  says  among  his  wonderful 
achievements,  u  He  purchased  the  Missouri  Pacific  for  $5,000,- 
000.  To  realize  handsomely  on  this  venture  he  issues  $30,000,- 
000  worth  of  stock.  $25,000,000  of  which  was  water." 

At  another  time,  the  Herald  says,  ik  The  Pulman  Palace  Car 
Company  has  watered  its  stock  $2,000,000  but  keeps  the  price 
of  bunks  up  just  the  same." 

When  these  facts  are  boldly  stated  by  those  who  claim  to 
know,  J  trust  we  may  be  pardoned  for  an  occasional  allusion, 
and  that  no  taunts  of  "  hayseed "  and  u  demagogue "  may  be 
hurled  at  those  who  are  inclined  to  repeat  the  same. 


12 

With  all  this  evidence,  will  it  be  claimed  that  the  state  should 
not  interpose  to  protect,  not  the  gamblers  who  are  willing  to 
buy  and  sell  worthless  stocks  and  bonds,  but  the  people.  There 
has  been  added  in  valueless  stocks  and  bonds  more  than  the 
national  debt,  on  which  is  paid  a  greater  rate  of  interest. 

It  is  always  safe  to  do  right.  When  it  was  proposed  by  the 
Nebraska  legislature  of  1878,  to  reduce  the  rate  of  interest  from 
12  to  10  per  cent.,  the  representatives  of  the  money  interest 
protested  that  loanable  capital  would  be  forced  from  the  state, 
but  the  legislature  boldly  acted,  reduced  the  rate,  and  money 
came  more  freely  than  before.  So  in  1880  a  bill  was  introduced 
affecting  slightly  railroad  management,  so  just  that  many  of  the 
special  advocates  of  railroad  interests  voted  for  the  measure  so 
equitably  as  to  provoke  no  adverse  criticism,  except  it  was  sug 
gested  that  if  any  railroad  legislation  were  had  no  more  roads 
would  be  built  and  eastern  capital  be  banished.  How  different 
the  result.  Never  so  many  miles  built  and  projected  as  during 
the  last  year. 

A  fair,  manly  course  on  the  part  of  the  people  and  the 
legislature  has  inspired  confidence  on  the  part  of  eastern  opera 
tors.  They  know  that  a  state  which  has  the  manhood  to  do  jus 
tice  by  its  own  people,  to  capital  and  labor  equally,  is  a  safe 
place  to  make  investments  whether  in  railroads,  hotels,  manu 
factures  or  real  estate.  No  interest  should  be  so  generous  and 
considerate  to  the  people,  for  none  had  been  so  aided.  The  na 
tion,  the  states,  counties  and  precincts,  have  donated  in  land  sub 
sidies,  and  money  even  mortgaging  the  future,  for  generations 
to  fill  the  treasuries  of  railroad  corporations. 


THE   TARIFF. 

The  world  has  made  progress  in  more  liberal  interchange  of 
the  productions  of  different  nations  and  our  own  notions  in 
regard  to  tariff  must  be  somewhat  modified  and  the  wise  sayings 
of  economic  writers  of  a  past  age  will  not  apply.  The  old  cry 
about  competing  with  pauper  labor  in  Europe,  and  that  we 
should  have  market  for  our  produce  where  our  goods  are  man- 


13 

ufactured  cannot  any  longer  strengthen  the  demand  for  high 
tariff,  because  the  ports  of  the  old  world  are  substantially  open, 
and  we  are  feeding  English  operatives,  and  the  price  of  our 
meats  and  grain  is  fixed,  not  at  New  York  but  at  Liverpool. 

'The  great  portion  of  the  American  people  believe  in  a  judic 
ious  tariff,  but  such  modifications  are  demanded  as  will  accord 
with  the  changed  and  liberal  advance  of  other  nations.  The 
rights  of  the  masses  are  recognized  in  England,  why  not  in 
America  ?  Her  people  demanded  cheap  bread,  and  the  obnox 
ious  corn  laws  were  repealed.  It  is  claimed  we  can  compete 
with  foreign  manufactures,  then  why  so  much  tariff?  Senator 
Miller,  of  New  York,  with  a  few  others  enjoying  by  a  tariff  the 
monopoly  of  wood  pulp  in  manufacturing  paper  says  that  he 
can  compete  with  foreign  paper.  Then  why  a  tariff?  He  also 
says  he  can  successfully  compete  with  England  in  Brazil,  if  the 
government  will  subsidize  a  steamship  line  and  carry  his  goods 
at  small  cost.  Can  any  one  to-day  assert  with  reason  that  the 
present  tariff  should  be  continued  on  lumber  shutting  us  out 
from  the  Canadian  forests.  The  owners  of  our  pineries  have 
already  become  millionaires.  Our  pineries  need  no  protection  ; 
not  so  much  as  the  farmers  of  Nebraska.  A  few  weeks  ago, 
the  bulls  of  the  lumber  market  arbitrarily  and  without  any 
possible  necessity,  added  twenty-five  per  cent,  to  the  price.  If 
lumber  is  becoming  scarce  and  expensive,  the  greater  reason 
why  it  should  be  allowed  free.  Can  you  imagine  why  a  tax  of 
so  much  per  thousand  feet  should  be  imposed  to  fill  pockets 
already  overflowing.  Thus  you  will  see  that  all  special  and 
favored  interests  are  imposing  taxation  directly  or  indirectly. 
The  great  mass  of  the  people  are  continually  made  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the  few.  Each  of  those  inter 
ests  specially  protected  are  ready  to  unite  for  common  defense. 
When  the  attempt  shall  be  made  to  remove  the  tax  on  lumber 
—wood  pulp,  iron,  every  monopoly  that  the  nation  has  pro 
tected  through  infancy  to  full  grown  manhood,  will  unite  to 
prevent  any  relief.  There  is  no  reason  why  agricultural  indus 
try  and  labor  generally  should  be  forever  taxed  to  make  more 
wealthy  and  powerful  class  interests  which  the  people  have 
already  made  strong  by  special  legislation  so  that  now  they  seek 
to  dominate  and  control  the  policy  of  the  government. 


V. 

CIVIL    SERVICE   REFORM, 


Lately  has  appeared  a  new  combination  in  the  body  politic  in  the 
Office  Holders'  Protective  Union  under  the  guise  of  civil  service 
reform,  the  object  being  to  insure  life  positions  under  govern 
ment.     This  new  dispensation  is  proclaimed  principally  by  those 
in  office  reinforced  by  occasional   outsiders,  some  bankers  who 
much  prefer  all  matters  should  run  in  the  rut  they  have  estab 
lished,  importers  who  know  their  men  in  the  custom  houses, 
contractors,  star  routers  and  others,  who,  to  a  certain  extent,  own 
and  control  the  bureaus  with  which  they  come  in  contact,  others 
who   always  for  obvious  reasons  want  to  be  a  let  alone."     But 
where   is  the   evidence   that   the   people  endorse  or  desire  this 
political  jugglerv.     Constitutions  of  all  the  states  provide  short 
terms  of  office  and  some  carefully  guard  the  principle  in  the 
case  of  certain  offices,  notably  treasurer  and   sheriff,  where   the 
officer  might  exercise  great  influence  by  the  manipulation  of  his 
office  for  his  re-election  by  providing  that  he  shall  not  be  eligi 
ble  to  re-election,  or  a  term  should  intervene  between  his  hold 
ing.     The  people  have  emphatically    decided,  no  matter  how 
strong  in  their  confidence  and  love  no  man  shall  be  elected  a 
third  term  to  the  presidency.     The  dogma  of  these   latter   day 
political  saints  is  the  pharasaical  assumption  that  no  one  except 
themselves  and  family  and  friends  are  \vorthy  and  competent  to 
hold  offices  and  that  the  present  system  of   office  holding  is 
demoralizing   and  disgraceful.     Why  then   do  they  not  them 
selves  retire  to  private  life.     They   are  always  more   patriotic 
than  Artemas  Ward,  who  sent  his  wife's  relatives  to  the  war. 
These  men  are  willing  to  sacrifice  their  blood  relatives,  even 
children,  by  seeking  and  holding  official  positions.     They  are 
clamorous  that  the  government  should  be  administered  on  busi 
ness  principles.     Precisely  ;  that  is  just  what  we  want  and  what 
we  do  not  get  at  the  hands  of  the   reformers.     What   business 
in  this  or  any  country,  even  England,  which  is  the  beau  ideal 
of  a  government,  for  those  "holier  than  thou  patriots"  selects 
its  officers,  agents  and  employees  after  competitive  examination. 
The  government  is  not  suffering  to-day  from  want  of  business 
capacity.     Now  and  then  it  takes  detriment  from  want  of  hon- 


15 

esty.  It  might  be  less  objectionable  if  it  would  commence 
higher  up  ;  there  would  be  the  merit  of:  consistency.  If  a  clerk 
receiving  $1,200  per  annum  can  only  enter  after  a  severe  exami 
nation,  it  would  seem  important  that  the  one  drawing  $2,000 
should  also,  yet  that  is  not  required.  They  leave  the  higher  po 
sitions  as  rewards  for  political  and  partisan  service,  yet  the 
inferior  places  must  be  filled  by  men  of  actual  business  capacity 
and  education  fitting  them  for  professorships  in  college.  Cer 
tainly  !  Have  business  qualifications,  but  have  them  where 
most  needed.  The  idea  of  a  committee  of  school  masters,  or 
meaner  still,  those  not  knowing  as  much  as  school  masters,  who, 
after  long  study,  frame  series  of  questions  having  no  connec 
tion  with  the  office  to  be  filled — the  length  of  longest  rivers 
height  of  m3untains,  capitals  of  foreign  countries,  about  squares, 
cubes  and  fractions,  questions  the  examiners  could  not  answer, 
except  as  they  had  studied  the  questions  with  the  view  of  per 
plexing  men  with  possibly  more  business  qualifications  and 
habits  than  themselves.  One  statement  will  explain.  A  person 
seeking  a  clerkship  in  the  interior  department  was  asked  the 
distance  of  the  sun  from  the  earth  at  the  nearest  point.  He 
replied  :  after  leaving  school  he  could  have  answered,  at  present 
he  could  not,  although  he  could  assure  them  it  would  probably 
not  come  near  enough  to  interfere  with  the  discharge  of  his 
duties  as  clerk  in  the  interior  department.  So  he  was  correct 
unless  some  Indian  tribes  inhabited  the  sun,  and  then  the 
chances  were  that  the  department  would  somehow  manage  to 
put  the  redskins  on  his  track  with  the  most  improved  rifle  and 
a  flask  of  whiskey. 

Let  reform  commence  at  the  top.  Have  men  in  charge  of 
departments  and  bureaus  who  have  more  business  qualifications 
than  their  employees;  who  will  know  whether  the  clerks  are 
competent  and  the  business  properly  conducted.  If  the  people 
really  desire  a  change  in  the  policy  of  the  administration,  let 
the  unseemly  and  sometimes  disgraceful  scramble  for  office  stop 
with  the  great  statesmen  of  the  nation  and  no  more  scheme8 
and  devices  to  pack  primaries,  county  and  state  conventions,  no 
more  mobs  and  claquers  at  national  conventions.  But  if  the 
head  of  the  government  must  be  changed  then  stop  office-hunt 
ing  for  cabinet  positions.  That  is  as  disgraceful  as  a  scramble 


16 

for  clerkships.  Seven  times  seven  candidates  for  each  of  the 
seven  positions.  Petitions,  delegations,  committees,  inundated 
the  president-elect.  General  Grarfield  was  evidently  more  an 
noyed  in  the  selection  of  his  cabinet  than  by  the  application  of 
comparatively  few  for  the  remaining  one  hundred  thousand 
positions.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  which  one  of  the 
present  cabinet  could  inform  the  people  how  far  distant  was  the 
sun  from  the  earth  at  the  nearest  point. 

If  the  gentlemen  now  filling  cabinet  positions  are  zealous 
civil  service  reformers,  why  did  they  not  at  an  earlier  and  more 
opportune  moment  withdraw  their  friends  from  raids  on  the 
president  for  the  seats  they  now  fill  ?  Why  should  they  strug 
gle  for  positions  and  not  grant  that  high  boon  to  the  humblest 
citizen.  The  cabinet  ministers  say  they  are  worried  ;  why  not? 
The  president  was  worried  by  the  importunities  of  their  friends. 
The  occasion  of  their  worry  is  principally  because  they  enter 
upon  their  office  ignorant  of  their  duties,  probably  more  so  than 
the  man  who  is  seeking  a  clerkship,  and  many  months  of  per 
plexing  and  arduous  labor  is  required  to  learn  the  rudiments  and 
rules  of  their  department,  the  principal  part  of  which  they 
must  learn  from  the  clerks  under  them,  and  for  many  months 
be  instructed  and  directed  by  the  employees.  Will  the  reformers 
make  a  note  of  this?  Doubtless  while  this  perplexes,  the  ap 
plication  for  position  is  the  last  feather,  for  every  mole  hill 
seems  like  a  mountain  to  a  weary  man.  It  will  be  an  unfortu 
nate  day  to  the  republic  when  the  citizen  shall  cease  to  be  a 
politician  or  indifferent  as  to  who  shall  seek  or  serve  in  office. 
It  will  be  best  for  the  people  to  retain  the  power  they  possess. 
No  privileged  few  shall  be  allowed  to  make  office-seeking  or  in 
terfering  in  politics  disgusting.  The  basest  tyrannical  govern 
ing  power  always  has  been  an  aristocracy.  Venice  lost  the 
republic  and  the  right  of  centuries  when  the  people  were  cajoled, 
and  delegated  to  the  grand  council  of  four  hundred  the  right  of 
voting  for  magistrates.  We  are  continually  reminded  of  what 
England  does.  We  were  not  aware  there  was  much  in  the 
r.nglish  government  for  a  republic  to  copy,  although  we  are 
aware  there  was  a  certain  class  in  the  country  who  would  like 
to  extend  the  copy  and  establish  a  monarchy.  The  liberal  and 
liberty-loving  Englishman  will  always  find  a  warm  place 


17 

in  the  American  heart,  but  the  governing  class  cannot 
make  models  for  us.  This  government  will  send  no  Yankee 
clocks  run  by  dynamite  to  keep  time,  or  end  time  even  for 
her  aristocracy.  We  remember  in  our  darkest  days,  when 
the  life  of  this  nation  was  trembling  in  the  balance,  the 
aid  and  sympathy  of  England's  lords  was  extended  to  our 
foes.  We  remember  her  aristocracy  not  only  allowed,  but 
advanced  money  to  build  blockade  runners.  And  we  must 
be  allowed  at  least  to  render  sympathy  for  those  of  her  people 
or  under  her  yoke  who  feel  oppressed.  We  rejoice  that  one  of 
the  evidences  that  America  has  not  lived  in  vain,  the  moral 
effect  of  our  example  and  the  kindly  offices  of  our  sympathy 
have  produced  good  fruit  when  parliament  felt  compelled  to  do 
partial  justice  to  Ireland,  to  give  a  ray  of  hope  to  her  toiling 
masses.  To  recognize  the  right  of  peasantry,  to  know  they 
have  some  interest  in  the  soil  by  allowing  them  what  common 
justice  would  grant  even  to  tenants  on  lands  which  did  not  con 
tain  the  graves  of  their  fathers  and  had  not  been  ruthlessly 
taken  away  from  their  ancestors. 

How  unfortunate  that  our  reformers  did  not  utilize  their 
business  notions  in  that  branch  of  the  government  where  some 
benefits  might  result.  Then  thousands  might  not  have  been 
wasted  on  machinery  to  make  sugar  from  corn  stalks,  and  thous 
ands  more  in  the  efforts  to  grow  tea  where  tea  could  not  pos 
sibly  grow.  No  part  of  the  government  brings  so  great  returns 
for  the  money  expended  as  the  postal  service  and  the  men  em 
ployed  in  the  railroad  branch,  toiling  by  night  and  day,  when 
disabled  or  killed  in  the  line  of  duty  are  as  deserving  of  pen 
sions  as  soldiers  on  the  field  of  battle.  Yet  many  of  the  most 
meritorious  by  reason  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  appropriation 
by  congress  have  been  reduced  in  salary.  Millions  for  star 
routes,  sums  sufficiently  large  to  divide,  yet  only  hundreds  for 
men  in  railway  mail  service.  The  late  Postmaster  General  Key 
evidently  needed  some  business  qualification  and  a  vast  deal 
more  honesty  in  his  department. 

"VI. 

THE   INDIANS. 

The  Indian  Bureau  is  another  fine  field  for  gleaning,  a  splen 
did  opening  for  a  new  infusion  of  business  tact.  All  the  states 


18 

men  and  all  administrations  have  grappled  with  the  problem 
and  the  Indian  or  the  Indian  agent  and  trader  have  unhorsed 
them  all.  All  experiments  here  have  been  expensive  failures. 
The  last,  placing  them  under  control  of  the  religious  societies, 
made  no  improvement.  Sentiment,  fiction,  poetry  gush,  if  you 
please,  will  not  subdue  the  wild  Indian.  An  excuse  is  made  for 
his  outbreak,  because  he  has  been  wronged  or  robbed.  Every 
reading  person  in  America  is  cognizant  of  that  fact.  Do  they 
not  know,  does  not  the  department  know,  that  nearly  every  man 
who  is  willing  to  leave  a  home  of  comfort  in  the  eastern  or 
middle  states  to  hunt  up  and  by  the  aid  of  civil  service  reform, 
secure  an  agency  or  tradership,  or  contract,  does  it  not  for  the 
meagre  salary,  but  in  some  way  to  filch  from  the  Indian,  to 
plunder  him  of  his  annuities,  and  defraud  him  of  his  goods. 
Even  though  the  church  sends  him, — few  men  go  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord. 

The  appointing  power  so  dearly  prized  by  all  presidents  is 
surrendered  not  to  the  delegation  in  congress,  who  would  at 
least  desire  to  serve  their  state  by  appointing  the  most  compe 
tent  men  to  prevent  collisions,  and  the  destruction  of  property, 
and  the  massacre  of  innocent  women  and  children,  but  the 
power  is  surrendered  to  the  control  of  the  irresponsible  secre 
taries  of  the  different  societies  located  in  the  east,  and  they 
recommend,  and  the  Indian  commission  with  becoming  modesty 
approves.  The  cabinet  minister  nods  consent  and  the  presi 
dent  appoints.  The  character  of  these  appointments  have  done 
no  credit  either  to  the  department  or  to  the  church.  There  has 
been  the  same  inefficiency,  the  same  robbery.  The  only  men 
who  seem  to  be  ignorant  of  these  facts,  are  the  department  and 
the  government.  They  squander  millions  without  any  appa 
rent  care  or  concern  and  seetn  not  to  imagine  any  danger  until 
the  skies  are  aglow  with  burning  buildings  and  the  air  filled 
with  piercing  shrieks  of  murdered  settlers  and  soldiers  massa 
cred.  Why  will  not  the  nation  demand  a  halt  in  this  villain 
ous  and  bloody  system?  For  every  burning  building,  every 
murdered  man.  woman  and  child  is  but  the  result  of  a  policy 
which  every  administration  refuses  to  let  go  for  no  other  reason 
than  the  patronage  enjoyed  and  the  profits  to  friends.  Canby 
and  his  comrades  at  the  Lava  Beds,  Ouster  and  his  command  5 


19 

now,  part  of  Carr's  command.  Will  not  this  suffice?  The 
tears  of  the  tender  philanthropist  will  flow  for  the  poor  In 
dian  :  will  the  same  eyes  weep  for  the  pioneer  and  his  family 
escaping  from  the  flames  of  his  dwelling  only  to  be  brutally 
murdered  or  tortured  by  the  malignant  demons.  All  this  rests 
with  your  government  or  rather  with  the  people.  Undoubtedly 
the  Indian  bureau,  the  interior  department,  the  administration, 
could  find  honest,  judicious,  faithful  men  to  fill  the  positions, 
but  that  never  has  been  done  and  never  will  be.  This  system 
has  been  tried  with  nothing  but  failure,  in  millions  of  money 
squandered  and  rivers  of  blood.  We  invite  settlers  to  the 
frontier  and  leave  them  to  the  merciless  cruelty  of  the  savage. 
We  plant  a  little  band  of  brave  soldiers  on  the  out-post,  and 
then  arm  the  most  murderous  of  the  tribes  with  better  rifles 
than  the  soldiers  command  and  leave  them  to  be  massacred. 
Have  we  not  had  full  enough ?  How  much  more  destruction 
and  murder  before  the  people  will  demand  that  this  matter  be 
placed  in  charge  of  the  war  department,  saving  the  salaries  of 
the  vast  army  of  agents  and  employes,  but  better  still,  put  it  in 
charge  of  men  whose  experience  will  guide  and  whose  charac 
ter  will  be  a  guaranty  of  fair  treatment  to  the  red  man. 


THE   WATER   HIGHWAYS. 

Let  us  pause  a  moment  with  a  more  pleasing  theme,  and  pre 
pare  to  ask  of  the  government  to  do  a  substantial  blessing  for 
the  masses  in  which  nearly  one-half  the  territory  and  popula 
tion  of  the  nation  are  deeply  interested  :  that  is  to  improve 
their  own  property,  the  great  w&ter  courses  ;  some  of  the 
grandest  rivers  on  the  continent — rivers  draining  empires  in 
extent,  in  grandeur,  in  wealth  of  production.  Give  a  small 
proportion  of  amounts  heretofore  expended  on  rivers  having 
little  water  and  no  commerce  ;  give  a  tithe  of  what  has  been 
bestowed  on  other  improvements,  and  we  will  open  and  make 
permanent  these  highways  to  the  sea. 


20 


THE    PEOPLES1    PRIVILEGE. 


We  have  been  talking  for  years  of  danger  for  monopolies,  yet 
to-day  they  are  strongly  entrenched,  substantial ]y  control1  ing 
congress  and  many  of  the  state  legislatures.  They  do  it  through 
you,  through  the  people,  and  the  men  whom  you  elect.  You 
have  the  power,  they  the  money  and  skill.  They  secure  the 
best  legal  talent  of  the  country  at  the  bar,  and  too  often  on  the 
bench.  See  the  many  contests  between  railroad  land  grants 
and  the  people.  Generally  the  citizen  is  beaten.  Will  they 
claim  that  the  law  is  on  their  side?  Not  always.  Take  a  case 
in  our  own  state  in  Thayer  and  other  southern  counties,  where 
many  had  entered  and  purcnased  lands,  obtained  patents  from 
government,  spending  in  improvements  their  last  dollar  and 
labor  of  themselves  and  families,  and  paying  the  taxes  ;  then 
comes  a  representative  of  the  Denver  and  St.  Joe  claiming  the 
lands.  The  department  decides  against  him,  the  humble  own 
ers  still  make  improvements  sustained  by  patents  and  decisions 
of  department.  The  representative  of  the  railroad  bides  his 
time,  confident  that  in  the  courts  he  has  a  firm  friend  and  waits 
until  the  claim  is  nearly  outlawed,  then  by  a  species  of  jugglery 
well-known  to  those  who  can  utilize  the  courts,  by  a  robbery 
worse  than  any  English  landlord  would  dare  perpetrate,  seeks 
to  wrest  the  title  from  those  who  had  the  best  possible  title,  a 
government  patent,  lands  improved  and  taxes  paid  for  ten 
years.  And  they  find  a  court  ready  to  obey  the  infamous  de 
mands,  and  by  a  most  outrageous  decision  order  the  land  to  the 
robber  chief.  Had  this  villainy  been  attempted  in  Ireland,  a 
wild  cry  would  have  rung  throughout  the  land.  But  the  end 
of  that  crime  is  not  yet,  and  we  trust  a  power  may  be  found  to 
keep  the  spoiler  from  his  prey. 

The  remedy  for  this  and  other  evils  of  administration  is  with 
the  people.  They  may  not  always  prevent  abuses,  but  they  can 
soon  check  and  utterly  destroy  the  authors  of  them.  They 
must  have  a  greater  knowledge,  and  take  a  deeper  interest  in 
politics  from  the  ward  and  precinct  caucuses  to  the  election  of 
president.  Two  parties  are  organized  and  established  on  well 


21 

defined  principles.  Sentiment  is  very  well  to  hold  men  to  a  po 
litical  platform,  yet  while  struggling  for  the  sentiment  be  care~ 
ful  that  the  organization  does  not  drift  under  the  control  of 
men  who  prefer  self-interest  and  dollars  to  sentiment  or  even 
patriotism.  Let  the  people  stop  long  enough,  not  to  change 
parties,  but  to  change  leaders  occasionally.  The  people  gener 
ally  content  themselves  by  making  an  effort  to  reach  the  polls 
one  day  in  the  year,  and  if  his  party  is  successful  that  seems 
glory  enough  for  him  until  the  next  annual  election.  Be  a 
politician  every  day  in  the  year,  riot  to  the  neglect  of  your  bus 
iness,  but  the  best  way  to  secure  it.  Remember  there  is  more 
in  politics  than  mere  office-holding — the  policy  of  the  govern 
ment  and  prosperity  of  the  nation  depends  upon  it.  Read, 
think,  and  above  all  things,  act.  Act  in  unison.  Do  as  the 
schemers  and  manipulators  do.  Harmonize  differences,  unite 
for  self-protection,  attend  the  primary  and  every  caucus,  then 
the  county  and  state  conventions.  You  have  the  power,  exer 
cise  it.  Nominate  good  men,  and  then  elect  them.  Break  the 
slate  now  and  then.  You  are  antagonized  by  the  sharpest  and 
brainiest  men  in  the  land.  They  make  politics  a  study  ;  do 
nothing  else  ;  they  can  run  caucuses,  conventions  and  legisla 
tures,  and  the  people  are  like  clay  in  their  hands.  They  will  tell 
you  in  a  patronizing  manner  that  the  people  are  well  enough  in 
their  way,  but  they  don't  really  understand  politics  any  more 
than  they  do  finance  and  transportation,  and  you  will  have  no 
trouble  in  finding  agreeable,  educated  gentlemen  in  the  large 
cities  who  are  willing  to  take  your  proxies  and  attend  to  your 
political  duties.  Remember  that  you  have  here  more  import 
ant  duties  to  discharge  than  ploughing,  planting  and  reaping. 
Elect  men  to  the  legislature  who  will  not  be  bribed  by  adverse 
interests,  or  cajoled  by  the  blandishments  of  a  state  capital. 

IX. 

CONCLUSION". 

As  we  stand  to-day  in  the  greatest  city  of  Nebraska  and  what 
is  destined  to  be  in  wealth,  education  and  refinement  the  largest 
city  in  the  west,  whose  growth  and  wealth,  like  that  of  the 


22 

state,  seems  to  increase  with  a  magic  more  wonderful  than  that 
of  Aladdin's  lamp.  We  dare  not  predict  the  possibilities  of  the 
future.  If  we  are  true  to  ourselves  and  just  to  all  we  will  con 
tinue  to  be  as  we  are  now,  the  peer  of  any  in  the  grand  sister 
hood  of  states. 

Not  only  our  great  development  in  production  and  popula 
tion,  but  the  death  roll  of  some  of  the  early  and  prominent 
citizens  is  bearing  testimony  that  the  days  of  our  infancy  as  a 
state  has  passed.  Rogers,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Dodge 
county;  Kaley,  one  of  the  ablest  from  the  Republican  Valley; 
Schick,  an  honored  representative  from  Nemaha  ;  another,  who 
held  the  highest  position  the  people  of  this  state  could  confer, 
Phineas  W.  Hitchcock,  who  had  seen  the  commonwealth  from 
its  infancy  growing  to  manhood,  outstripping  in  population 
and  wealth,  many  of  the  original  thirteen,  since  last  we  met 
have  lain  down  the  burden  of  life. 

We  had  given  to  the  world  during  the  last  few  weeks  the 
most  wonderful  exhibition  that  ever  illustrated  its  history. 
No  people,  in  ancient  or  modern  times,  no  form  of  government 
furnishes  a  parallel.  A  president  duly  elected  to  execute  the 
laws  for  50;000,000  freemen  is  stricken  down  by  a  cowardly 
assassin.  Save  the  murderous  wretch  scarce  another  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf,  who  does  not  repro 
bate  the  crime.  Scarce  a  knee  that  has  not  bowed  and  a  heart 
that  has  not  fervently  gone  forth  in  open  or  secret  prayer  for 
the  dying  president.  Scarce  an  eye  that  has  not  during  the 
touching  and  pathetic  incident  dropped  the  silent  tear.  Before 
the  mighty  calamity  at  the  bedside  of  the  patient  sufferer  party 
strife  and  personal  hatred  have  been  stilled  and  banished.  No 
anxiety  more  earnest,  no  grief  more  sincere  than  spontaneously 
came  from  the  democratic  party,  against  which  he  had  so  long 
battled,  and  the  generous  sympathy  like  to  a  personal  sorrow 
which  came  from  every  southern  home  and  heart  with  whom 
he  had  contended  on  the  field  of  battle,  has  accomplished  more 
in  reuniting  the  sections  than  all  the  reconstruction  acts  of 
Congress.  Kings  and  moriarchs  of  Europe  by  the  side  of  their 
subjects  and  serfs,  have  uncovered  and  stood  in  spirit  and  sym 
pathy  around  the  couch.  Another  grand  spectacle;  a  people 


23 

administering  their  own  government  without  a  ruler,  without 
u  president.  No  power  in  the  government  can  give  an  execu 
tive  order,  all  the  cabinet  combined  cannot,  while  the  hand  of 
the  chief  magistrate  is  powerless,  even  to  sign  his  name  to  any 
decree,  yet  we  can  say  as  did  Garfield  on  an  equally  solemn  occa 
sion  :  "God  reigns  and  the  government  at  Washington  still 
lives." 


